Jackie Gleason on segment of the popular 50's TV series "Cavalcade of Stars", doing a sketch called "The Honeymooners", which was later turned into a sitcom. "Cavalcade of Stars" started in 1949 and quickly became one of the most popular shows on The DuMont Television Network. Jackie Gleason was the 3rd and most popular host of the series. "The Honeymooners" started as a series of sketches, and later became a classic CBS sitcom still shown in syndication today.

While the sitcom is still copyrighted, "Cavalcade of Stars" has long been public domain. This excerpt is all I have of the episode (I wish I could see the whole thing! Jackie did lots of different sketches back then).


This movie is part of the collection: Classic TV

Production Company: DuMont Television Network
Audio/Visual: sound, Black and White
Keywords: Jackie Gleason; The Honeymooners; Cavalcade of Stars; 50's TV; 1950's Television; Classic TV; Kinescope Recording; DuMont Television Network; DuMont Network;

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: Htos1 - - May 9, 2012
Subject: Great!
This was cool,had never seen this original clip,loved it.On a side note,I got to meet Mr.Gleason(and Elton John,Angie Dickinson,and members of the Atlanta Falcons team,on the same night)where I worked as a teen(Aunt Fanny's Cabin restuarant-Atlanta,Ga.summer 1978),and treated us kids like we were the first fans to ever want his autograph,what a class act and wonderful man!

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - May 5, 2012
Subject: *review deleted*
*review deleted*

Reviewer: Earlon - - February 22, 2010
Subject: A catalog site for Classic TV shows
If you like Classic TV from of the 50's, I found a catalog site that makes it easy to find and watch episodes streaming from Archive.org at:

The Classic TV Channel

There are currently over 400 individual episodes of about 30 different programs, and the site is growing day by day. Check it out!

Reviewer: jackpoint188 - - February 21, 2010
Subject: Gleason Cinescope
Possibly this is one of the films preserved by Gleason along with the other lost honeymooner episodes. Very entertaining.

Reviewer: Archive fan - - August 9, 2008
Subject: I'm surprised by Art Carney
I've read of the pre-Audrey Meadows Honeymooners but have never seen one. I enjoyed Pert Kelton, especially at the end of the piece. She was quite a good actor and would have moved the series into a whole different direction than her successor. The big surprise to me was Art Carney. Jackie Gleason's Ralph is the same, Joyce Randolph's Trixie is the same, and I expected Norton to match his later persona, too. That particular characterization is very close to what Art Carney used as "Newton the Waiter," a part he played in the Morey Amsterdam show (also in the Internet Archive). But Art Carney was also known for his impressions, and in this episode of the Honeymooners, he's doing his immpression of Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom, a former-boxer-turned-comedian who set the mold for what a punch-drunk fighter sounds like. Norton looks like his old self (albeit younger) but sounds like a boxer who was hit in the head too many times. Everyone mentions the big change when Meadows took over the Alice role from Kelton, but who knew Norton started out so differently?

Reviewer: Retro_Saiyan - - July 19, 2008
Subject: Wow
Amazing to see DuMont Network footage. Almost the entire archive of the company was destroyed during the 70's.

Reviewer: Tenor madman - - March 22, 2008
Subject: Seeds of greatness
Most of the ingredients that made the Honeymooners a huge hit are here already. The big difference here is Alice. She's not played by Audrey Meadows like we're used to seeing later. She's played by Pert Kelton, the original Alice.
The reason given at the time for her replacement was that she had health problems that kept her from continuing on. But the truth was that she was kept out because of the blacklist of actors and actresses thought to be communist at the time.

Notwithstanding, I think the chemistry between Gleason and Meadows was more balanced than what you'll see here. Still, the shape of things to come is always fun to see.

TM

Credits

Cast:
Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden
Art Carney as Ed Norton
Pert Kelton as Alice Kramden
Joyce Randolph As Trixie Norton